The Pursuit of Happniess
by Simply Lily
Summary: Alternate ending to 2x02. You know the charge that goes up your spine at moment of epiphany? It just hit me. I'm not gonna let the list of things I want to do before I die turn into a list of regrets. LoVe.


Hey all! How you doing?

As usual, I'm here to impose upon you my will. Hum, basically that means that I was watching Veronica Mars 2x02 and I thought of something I really wish happened. Add a few boring class to the mix and you get this little thing. I really hope you like it. If you do – **_PLEASE REVIEW!_** (that kinda rhymes doesn't it?). if you don't – heck **_PLEASE REVIEW_** anyway!

Disclaimer: disclaimer? What for? I mean, after all, it's widely known that all the characters belong to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee please real like Golum (or however his name is spelled) in LOTR: Return of the King, it'll make more sense. You can sue me, but you won't take my Precious(es) away!

Enjoy!

The Pursuit of Happiness

Chapter 1

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_You know the charge that goes up your spine at moment of epiphany? It just hit me. I'm not gonna let the list of things I want to do before I die turn into a list of regrets._

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Was her hair straightened? Were her clothes alright? _Oh stop it, Veronica. just knock the stupid door. Before the usual Christmas poker game, if possible._

Sometimes between thinking stuff like that and fidgeting, Veronica must have knocked that door, because suddenly Duncan was at the door, grinning as usual. "You came," he said softly and hugged her.

"Hi," she managed weekly.

He frowned, "what's wrong?" she could imagine he was probably fearing another Bus-Crashed-My-Fault speech. Which was justified, truth be told.

"Let's sit down."

Duncan wrinkled his brow, "oookay."

They sat down and Veronica took the deepest of all breathes before asking: "you know the bus driver's daughter?"

"Jesse Doyle?"

_Huh, seems like you dad drives one of a cliff and your days of being under the radar ARE over. _She smiled weekly at the absurdity of life, or something. Duncan looked even more worried. "She asked to look into the bus crash."

He sighed warily, "why?"

"To prove her dad didn't commit suicide," she answered way too quickly.

"Didn't he?"

"No, he didn't," Veronica said quietly, looking at her hands. "He didn't plan to die. He was going to leave his wife for his neighbor. They were in love."

Duncan took her into his arms again. She could feel his breath getting a little too ragged, and not in a good kissing-till-breathless way, either. "Oh, Veronica, why do you do this to yourself?"

"Do what?"

He pressed his lips against her shoulder. "Why do you get into this stuff if it only makes you miserable?"

She backed out of the hug sharply, "what would you have me do? Ignore her?"

"It's not just Jesse," Duncan murmured pointedly.

He was making her angrier by the minute, and that was not very good. "You know, Duncan," she deadpanned, "if I had the chance, I'd do it all over again. Just the same way… only I probably wouldn't have let Logan look through my files," she added as an afterthought.

He sighed and smiled slightly, "yeah, well, everything turned out relatively okay, didn't it?"

She smiled back, "I know."

There was a silence, in which Duncan stared at her intently. After a while, he let go of the hand he was holding and asked: "you're breaking up with me, aren't you?"

That was unnerving. "What?"

He lowered his eyes, "I can tell. I don't know how, but I can tell."

"I'm sorry," she choked out.

He raised his eyes to her and they looked just a little bit too venomous, "that you can't make up your mind? Yeah, I'm sorry too."

"That's not fair."

"So does leading me on for all this time," he spat.

"The whole three weeks?" Veronica asked sarcastically.

He leaned backwards on the couch, as if trying to put as much distance between them as possible, "doesn't matter. Three weeks or three years. You made me believe you loved me."

"Well I do love you," she admitted.

"Then why are we having this little chat again?" he asked, tilting his head cynically.

She sighed exasperatedly, "Because I don't love you like _that_. And I don't think you love me like that, either. I think we're just holding onto the past."

Duncan got up abruptly. "That'd be so much easier for you, wouldn't it?" he asked, hate sipping through his voice, "well, no, sorry to break your theory." He paced around a little, probably trying to control his rage, "you keep thinking I want the old you, but you just don't get it, do you? I _love_ you just like you are! You hear me? I _love_ this Veronica 2.0! _I _am not the one whose lying to myself."

She watched as he kept on pacing for a few seconds before looking back at her hands and sighing, "So I guess we can't still be friends, huh?"

"No duh, Sherlock," he blurted furiously.

Veronica bit her lower lip, _YOU'RE the one breaking up with him – he has a right to be pissed_, "fine, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me." She walked to the door, opened it and turned around just before leaving, "I'm sorry, Duncan. I really didn't wanna lose you."

He didn't turn around, "it's a shame not everything is about you, Veronica. Now try not to let the door hit you on your way out."

She turned to leave but stopped when he suddenly sat down bluntly, a blank look on his face. He took the newspaper in his hands and started tearing it apart in short, angry rips. _So this is what a fit looks like_, she thought before rushing towards him and snatching the newspaper out of his hands.

Duncan somehow managed to struggle with her without once meeting her eyes, or anything, for that matter. Then, suddenly, he went limp, crashed his head on her lap and broke into tears.

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An hour and a half or so late, and they were still sitting in almost the same position. The only difference was that now Veronica was propped a little more comfortably on the couch and that she was stroking Duncan's head fondly. They were watching TV, mostly to drown out the hysterical moans that were coming from the next room.

"I sympathize with Dawson," Duncan muttered, voice slightly hoarse.

"You're not annoying and conceited!" she mock-claimed and kissed the top of his head. "It's too bad the Firefly rerun is over. I love that show."

Duncan chuckled warily. "I never wanted you to see me like this," he said gloomily after a moment.

"It's really not as bad as you think," she tried to reassure him, even though it totally was. "All you did was kill the Neptune Navigator and I don't think it'll very missed, you know? We had a really badedition this month…"

This time she managed to get a more lively laugh out of him, though it was still generously dipped in misery. "I don't see how I'll ever be able to just be your friend, Veronica. It's too hard."

"But it'll be harder to not have any contact at all, wouldn't it?" she asked with a shy smile.

"You'll survive, I'm sure," he said, "There's a precedent."

Veronica resumed stroking his hair, "you don't know how horrible last year was… every time you averted your eyes I... I really missed you."

They continued lying like that until the episode was over.

"Don't you need to go?" Duncan asked, turning off the TV, "wouldn't your dad be worried?"

"I can stay for as long as you want," she answered tenderly.

He straightened up and played with the buttons of his shirt, "actually, I can't really be around you for a while."

Veronica got up heavily. "Okay." She walked to the door, turned around like she was gonna say something but instead just smiled and left, closing the door behind her.

Duncan felt drained. He thought about getting up and getting a drink. Or something. but all he managed was to reach to the control and turn on the TV again.

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Veronica leaned against the wall for a minute, trying to straighten her thoughts. Her clothes were messy, he muscles were either asleep or strained and did she really just break up with Duncan?

Like _really_ really?

She heard the next door give a creak and started blushing even before she saw a male form leave the room, straightening his jacket.

_Wait, I know that jacket… and those shoes…._

_Oh. Dear. God. Please, some earthquakes would be nice._

Logan looked up and smirked at her (_or possibly a friendly plague?_) with all the might of his smirk. "Hmm… what's different about you? Did you cut your hair or something?"

She had a sudden urge to go all '_nope, I'm growing it out," _which could have been funny, but a little inappropriate, especially considering all the _sex _he _just_ had with whoever it was. So instead, she just pursed her lips together and tried to swallow the lump in her throat.

"FYI," he continued despite himself, still smirking like a jackass, "if the cuddle was the best part, he didn't do it right."

"Actually, I did most of the 'doing'," Veronica murmured with a shadow of a smirk herself, "are you saying I did it wrong?"

Logan's obnoxious smile faded into oblivion. He pulled his shoulders backwards tilted his head a little, "I wouldn't know."

_Funny how you would_, she thought to herself, _I did it to you too, several times, in fact. _"Guess not."

He looked angry and she couldn't help feeling good about it. True, in theory she loved him and wanted him back and all those pretty things that sounded really good on postcards. _Real life? Always different._

He sent her one last fake smile (and maybe even an air kiss? It was hard to tell with all the scowling), glanced at Duncan's door with an inscrutable expression and walked past her to the elevator.

Veronica knew she could run after him and catch it too, cause him a few more minutes of discomfort (he was the only one who had something to feel guilty about, after all) but she still had _some_ compassion.

Right, it's not like she thought he'd spread him arms to her and she'd leap into his comforting embrace, or something equally as cheesy and tempting. But that didn't mean she'll just go back to Duncan, either. It wasn't a 'this' or 'that' situation.

She was willing to wait for him to work through this… phase.

She was willing to wait for a while. Not forever. But still.

Although, Veronica promised to herself, if she ever found him coming out of another hotel room, she's taking her dad's savings and going to town.

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Whew, _intense._

Right, I hope you liked this little whim. I certainly feel a whole lot lighter now that it's off my chest… I already have the next few chapters sorta planned out in my head, and maybe I'll even run them through a beta reader next time instead of just… you know… getting possessed and posting them like the world was gonna end tomorrow. Which was what I did here, mind you.

So, anyway, I'm not sure what to do as a review plea for this story. Little funny dialogues instead of my usual monologues? Maybe between people who don't usually talk? That could be cute, couldn't it? Should I give it a try?

For now (this time only), you think you can just **_REVIEW_** out of your golden heart? Pretty pretty please? I'll even have a WeevilDuncan auction for you guys! (I'd give you Logan, but the honeymoon ain't over yet, if you catch my drift…) (Ooh, is it med time in the insane asylum already?) Bidding starts at a 100$

I'm serious, whoever bids the highest price gets enough of my insanity to make the dream come true!

Oh man, I'm scaring myself. Just **_REVIEW _**alright? Before I have to change the rating of this story to M because of the A.Ns…


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